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It all started in with the eyes. Our discussion this week about vision as a model for how the sensory side of the nervous system works has proved to be nothing less than troublesome. So a recap: we have this fabulous little sensory organ called the eye. Two eyes work together in a pair, responding to changes in light which cause permeability changes thus causing action potentials. The eyes are able to conceal each one’s discrepancies (i.e. the “blind spot”) and depend on the brain for interpretation of what is perceived. The “facts” about what is “actually happening” is fine…well, sort of. Okay, none of this is really fine for me, and let me explain why:

We see the world as it is, right? More appropriately, the world appears to us the way we see it. There are some fundamental difficulties (for me) about the way we “see” reality. The way we see reality is subject to a large amount of mutation. We receive an input through changes in light and these changes are compiled as many point sources of light, but this light can be misleading. Everything needs to operate correctly, or else the point sources of light aren’t added up correctly on the retina and the image may not appear to be what it actually is. Another complication is that the image that is projected on your retina is upside down and backward – the brain has to do a lot of twisting and turning to make things appear to you as they actually are. And then there is the fact the image is a lot bigger than what gets onto your retina, so the image has to shrink and then be put back together; this leads into the fact that your eyes are always moving and re-evaluating and adding up pictures and changing their interpretation of reality. The reality you get, or the picture that finally is your experience, has been accomplished through a significant amount of mutation, changes and guessing. With this system how are we to even feel confident that we are accessing the “right” reality since the system of our eyes seem to operate on the principal that the reality we see is constantly being altered and changed depending on your position, etc.? Thus, if there are problems about the way we see reality, and seeing is a model for how the sensory side of the nervous system works, then for me, there are difficulties with this system.

We know there are very few sensory neurons relative to the number of neurons in the body. Why is this true? Is there are reason that we don’t have a richer amount of input? (This question is operating under the assumption that more neurons equal a richer experience, which seems logical—although possibly incorrect—conclusion) Has the sensory experience of humans altered over time? What would your experience of reality be like if you had a larger proportion of sensory neurons? I think the reality that we experience is something that we agree on and this consensus is innate in what it means to be a part of Homo sapiens. I think then it is essential to recognize how our reality is shaped by our sensory system.

If the human design is a conserved process then it seems that our sensory experience also follows from a conserved process. The reality which we see and the reality which we participate in may be the same, but they also may be limited. It seems to me that we are participating in a convergent type of reality—we have similar sensory experiences and because of our conserved design and development we have a certain type of experience. In my opinion, if we were able to amplify our sensory experience, we may be able to access a very different type of reality. I think it is safe to say that our “reality” may not be the only thing out there, but it is the only thing that we have access to. Kant also said this, but I want to go beyond and say that the reality we experienced is because of a convergence theory of what is appropriate for our sensory systems. Maybe the reality we experience is a product of what we can handle; or what our brains can interpret; or what our nervous system can respond to. It may in fact be the sensory system that has dictated our experiences within reality.